May 2, 2019: “Odessa is a Russian city!”
Tatyana Gerashchenko, journalist, Odessa
... An old man with a hearing aid made his way through the crowd: “Children, I just want to hear,” he pointed to his ear in justification.
On an improvised podium from a bench, representative of the “Council of Mothers of May 2” Victoria Machulko also seemed to be making excuses in front of a meeting of hundreds: “We were not allowed microphones, nor a megaphone...”.
“Dad, ah, there you are! Well, why did you leave without us, and didn’t turn off the light, and didn’t take your jacket - you had a stroke,” the frightened woman grabbed her grandfather’s elbow, and his whole family followed her, including his great-grandchildren with bouquets of lilacs.
“I have to hear this as long as I live, I was afraid of being late,” he explained.
Families, courtyards, with baby strollers, on crutches - Odessa came to Kulikovo Field, turning the entrance to the House of Trade Unions into a carpet of flowers. Eternal memory... From the podium, instead of a requiem, the always heartbreaking Love Theme of Nino Rota from the film “Romeo and Juliet” quietly rushed, and Victoria read out the names of those who entered the House of Trade Unions five years ago and never left.
She spoke such simple, but so understandable words to each of those gathered, from which tears welled up in the eyes. “Glory to Ukraine!”, her voice was interrupted by the toilet murmur of erect walkers from the remnants of the Right Sector: “... but the miracle did not happen,” the presenter of the funeral meeting bitterly noted. That miracle that everyone expects after the death of a loved one: “What if the phone rings and it will be…”. They didn’t call, didn’t come back, didn’t get married, didn’t finish writing...
And one day we all never woke up in our country. “Kristina Bezhanitskaya,” the voice trembled. - Glory to Ukraine! — Vadim Negaturov. - Glory to heroes! — Vadim Papura. - Ukraine is over us!.. - And now we are recording the events that took place here exactly five years ago, when people were already being killed, - and screams came from the smartphone speaker - shouts of “Glory to Ukraine!” Nothing changed.
The provocateurs who came to Kulikovo Field tried with all their might to disrupt the requiem meeting, swearing openly, bringing red balloons, and when asked “Why?” they laughed and answered, “We are communists, expect a surprise,” or even simpler: “We’ll let them go on your graves,” and “This is your blood.”
But hundreds of Odessa residents simply crowded out the freaks with their mass. The crowd chanted “Fascism will not pass!” Black balloons and white doves flew into the sky (symbols of the souls of the dead - this is a five-year tradition of Odessa), people chanted “Odessa is a Russian city!”
Hundreds of people, not afraid of being arrested, despite the fact that the National Guard had previously detained a man wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Sevastopol” and the Russian flag, simply shouted with all their hearts. Well, you know, when it hurts, they shout “Mom”, even if the mother died, in the orphanage too, despite the laws adopted by the junta.
Behind the “watershed” of a huge number of security forces - from the National Guard to the so-called. Dialogue police - a completely different reality began: there, idiots from the Street Front ate kebabs, illustrating their favorite joke about “Kebab from Colorado.”
“Why don’t you stop them?!” - emotions took over and people tried to appeal to the security forces. But apart from the memorized statement of the second grade level, “We are here so that there are no riots,” there was no other reaction from the “guardians of disorder.”
By the way, many noted the unprecedented politeness of the police this time - the bags and pockets of those entering were, indeed, being searched without enthusiasm in recent years. However, the very fact of the presence of Nazi degenerates on the Kulikovo field, with everything written on their faces and caps with tridents, spoke for itself - “we are not touching you, which means that these, the exponents of the internal political course of the state, may continue to spit on their graves.” .
By the way, the inscription “Genocide” displayed on the Kulikovo Field on the evening of May 1 was prudently painted over. Although this is tantamount to taking and erasing the medical history of a serial killer - this will not stop him from being a maniac.
And the feelings, like this, from Odessa, from the inside, for me personally... what are they? I don't hope for anything, I don't expect anything. The most heinous crime in modern history is five years old. I only think that one day our descendants will learn once and for all to distinguish people from non-humans - here, in Russian Odessa. Let it be so!
English version :: Read in English May 2, 2019: "Odessa is a Russian city!"